At times last night, Ohio State’s players moved the basketball around Virginia Commonwealth’s defensive zone faster than the queen of hearts disappears in a game of three-card monte.

The Rams never quite caught onto the dizzying pace while losing to the Buckeyes 88-50 at Value City Arena.

The outcome essentially was settled seven minutes into the no-contest. VCU (6-7) missed its first 14 shots and fell behind 16-2. The Buckeyes (9-3) never took their feet off the accelerator even as coach Jim Foster cleared his bench in the second half.

Tayler Hill led the assault with 20 points, seven rebounds and four assists with no turnovers. After the game, she scanned a box score filled with similar lines for her teammates and picked out her favorite numbers.

“Probably the assists to how many buckets we made and the turnover category,” she said. “It’s been a point of emphasis since the beginning of the year. We’ve got to stop turning the ball over.”

The Buckeyes logged a season-high 26 assists, which is a major reason they shot 56.9 percent (37 of 65). They also posted a 17-0 edge on fast-break points and a 20-8 margin on points off turnovers.

“We did a good job,” Hill said. “We were finding the gaps and we were hitting open shots. But that’s because the ball was being reversed three or four times before we got a shot off.”

Sasha Dobranic scored the first three baskets of the game for Ohio State after assists by Amber Stokes, Hill and Ashley Adams. Dobranic reached a career high with 14 points on 7-of-8 shooting.

“There were a lot of gaps and people were finding other people,” Dobranic said. “Like Ashley would find me, and if there was no space in the middle, we would find guards on the side.”

Darryce Moore came off the bench to relieve Adams in the post in the first half and recorded five of her career-high six assists in seven minutes. The ball simply kept moving.

Hill called this the best passing team she has played on “for sure.”

“Every guard can pass,” she said. “Every post player can pass on our team. People coming off the bench are doing an excellent job. I think practice-wise, they’re getting their reps. Then we play teams like this and they’re showing that they’ve been putting in work — even outside of practice.”

Raven Ferguson played 16 minutes off the bench and scored 15 points. Co-captain Stokes, meanwhile, finished with seven points, six rebounds, six assists and three steals.

“We were where we needed to be between the ears,” Foster said. “This is a team that is evolving.”

Foster put freshman point guard Ameryst Alston on the ball defensively to start the game for the first time instead of Stokes.

“And we’re going to keep her there,” he said.

Moore and Adams combined for 11 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists.

“Not too many people can say they got nine assists out of their center position, and that’s what we got tonight,” Foster said. “They can pass. We’re starting to mesh in terms of where we are. This is a collective effort, and our numbers are continuing to improve. It was terrific and a very unselfish.”